A/N:
* (Yet another oneshot? It's getting crazy, I know! The idea for this Undyne and Frisk centric oneshot came to me while playing through a no mercy run of the game over this past week [I originally had no intention of doing this when I first acquired the game, but one of my irl friends convinced me to do it and played through parts of it with me]. I mean, come on, Frisk is a child; some of the stuff the characters in the Underground say/do to them would scare any kid.)
* (Once more, this oneshot contains spoilers for both the pacifist and no mercy plots.)
Clank, clank, clank.
Frisk instinctively started at the sound, which forcibly removed them from the temporary thoughts they'd lost themselves in. They quickly swung their head around to find the source, hair whipping their face due to the speed with which they turned. The crashing of metal against metal, while probably having harmless origins in where Frisk detected it coming from - Toriel's kitchen - immediately drove their mind to another place.
It had been dark. And wet. Faux stars had illuminated the path for them, as the monsters had to creatively replace the night sky they'd lost in the confinement under Mt. Ebott; Frisk had listened to the inquiries of monsters of what real stars looked like. Frisk remembered walking among the aged whispers of the Echo Flowers, overhearing a wistful conversation shared between friends about dreams. They remembered the enthusiasm with which Monster Kid ran behind, around, and ahead of them, eager to continue through the Waterfall area in hopes of seeing his hero up close.
She, the hero, was probably the source of the sound right now, just as she was then.
They remembered hiding in the grass, only to accidentally rustle the tall, leafy blades and call attention to themselves. Moments later, they found themselves hopelessly staring up at the ledge above, waiting for the newcomer knight to initiate a fight.
This knight had been Undyne, whom Frisk had come to befriend and cherish since their first (less than friendly) encounter. But, even so, they had struggled against Undyne through many deaths and reloads before managing to successfully suspend their battle against her. Frisk couldn't help but shudder as they remembered the feeling of her magical, blue spear, quickly approaching their body, which was tiny and vulnerable compared to Undyne's...
There had been pain. So much of it. Even more so in the other timeline, when Frisk had been consumed by a deep hatred that led them down a path of destruction through the Underground, obliterating everything in their path. Undyne had been there, too, and was even harder to beat, as she'd turned into Undyne the Undying.
Said heroine was currently making more noise in the kitchen, the clatter of pots banging against pans sending shivers down Frisk's spine once more. They weren't sure why they felt this way - it wasn't like there was actually any threat - but hearing something that reminded them of their flight from Undyne through Waterfall unsettled them more than they would like to admit.
And, even worse, the image of Undyne melting from her determination would forever be seared in Frisk's mind, serving as a reminder that they were not above consequences.
"Hey, kid, you better let your mom know you guys need more tea, 'cause this is the last bag," Undyne said nonchalantly as she walked into the dining room where Frisk currently resided, holding a freshly brewed cup of tea.
Frisk swallowed nervously, confused over their sudden, conflicted feelings. On one hand, they were terrified; they hadn't heard such metallic sounds and been in such close proximity with Undyne since she had been hunting them down through Waterfall. On the other hand, Frisk knew that Undyne was one of their best friends, and was simply here to keep them company while Toriel was out for the day.
Undyne, as perceptive as ever, quickly picked up on Frisk's weird, hesitant behavior. "Umm, kid? I think it would be better if you drank this over here at the table; it's pretty hot, and I wouldn't want you spilling it on yourself! Ouch!"
Though her words had been accompanied by an easygoing and lighthearted smile, Frisk was hardly reassured. They remained on the opposite end of the table of Undyne; she stood at the head nearest the kitchen, while Frisk held onto the chair on the other end. They anxiously grasped the wooden backing, somewhat trying to hide themselves behind the seat.
"Frisk?" Closing their eyes and leaning their forehead against the back of the chair, Frisk could hear the worry in Undyne's voice, followed by the clink of the cup being set down on the table. "Are you playing some kind of game?"
There were two sides to every coin, Frisk remembered Toriel once saying. Though she definitely hadn't been alluding to Frisk's multiple first encounters with each monster and how Frisk's violent or merciful actions affected said first encounters, that saying was what Frisk struggled to accept now. There were two sides to Undyne: the current, loving one, which had fought to become "besties" with Frisk after Papyrus had dared her to, and the side Frisk had encountered on their merciless journey through the Underground. Undyne had sounded so sad after Frisk first struck her, yet so passionate and determined moments later after her transformation. Though Frisk had obviously been in a different mindset during that timeline, Undyne's voice during that fight with her often haunted Frisk today.
And that was happening now, as Frisk couldn't even bring themselves to look up at Undyne; if they did, would it be the head of the Royal Guard they were looking at, who was here to take Frisk's soul? Or, would it be Undyne the Undying, the heroine whose determination was so powerful it literally melted her after Frisk weakened her enough? Frisk doubted there was a third possibility - normal Undyne, simply offering them tea - for what they might see if they looked up, so they kept their eyes down.
"Hey...I promise I didn't mess your tea up," Undyne said, taking a few cautious steps around the side of the table, approaching Frisk. Their body stiffened, but they stayed in one place. "Frisk, what's up? Are you feeling okay?"
Frisk made a pitiful, almost remorseful sound in reply. Undyne stopped walking when there was only two chairs' worth of space between herself and Frisk, as they had always expressed discomfort with unprecedented close-contact; Undyne wasn't about to mess with that now. "Do you have a bellyache? Do you need medicine? Should I get Alphy?"
They didn't give any response to Undyne's worried flurry of questions, which only concerned her further. Taking a leap of faith, she walked forward two more steps, and laid a hand on the same chair Frisk was pressing the front of their body against. They almost appeared to be hiding, but not in the way that meant they were playing; Undyne knew, from experience, the difference between "hide and go seek"-type hiding, and genuine, fear-driven hiding.
This seemed to be a case of the latter.
"Did you think of something scary?" Undyne prodded, her voice a bit awkward, as she wasn't sure how to handle the emotions of children quite yet - hence her question about fetching Alphys, who was just a few doors down, working in her lab.
Frisk's grip on the chair tightened slightly at that, their shoulders rising just a little more. That was all Undyne needed to know to receive an answer. She lowered herself closer to Frisk's eye level, settling on one knee. "Tell me what's up, kid. It's okay."
They released a shaky breath, blinking against a few tears stinging at their eyes. This Undyne sounded so much like the one Frisk had fought to love and protect, but they remained doubtful.
They murmured a soft inquiry of what Undyne was here, in Frisk and Toriel's home, to do.
She seemed taken a bit off guard by the question. "What am I doing here? Did you already forget, kid? I'm here to babysit you while Tori's out doing boring, queen-work stuff! Which quickly led to me making you some tea, since that's our thing."
Frisk nodded, still avoiding eye contact; they then asked if Undyne still needed or wanted to take their soul.
"Your soul?" Undyne echoed, pausing for a moment. Realization seemed to dawn on her, as her voice suddenly turned sympathetic. "Is that what this is about - our fight in Waterfall, back in the Underground?"
They took a deep breath, trying to rid their mind of the memories threatening to further consume them, and gave a small nod.
"Why would you…?" Undyne paused mid-sentence, thinking back on what could have prompted this sudden reaction in the last few minutes. She recalled preparing Frisk's tea, boiling the water, knocking over some pots and pans while reaching for the tea bags, retrieving and placing one tea bag in the cup...oh.
"Frisk, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry," she said, her voice genuine. "The sound you heard was me knocking over some of Tori's pots and pans; my suit of armor is in my closet, back at my house! I haven't worn it since it almost gave me a heat stroke...Which you saved me from! We're friends now! I promise! Besties forever, remember?"
Frisk quickly muttered a few things which Undyne struggled to understand. She caught the words, "determination," "melting," "true heroine," and "consequences," but she couldn't figure out the meaning behind the string of thought Frisk's speech had been following when uttering them.
Undyne sat down on the floor, crossing her legs. She patiently watched Frisk courageously sneak a peek at her from behind their arm, their eye appearing and disappearing more quickly than Undyne could suplex a boulder. "It's just me, kid. Everything's okay now, I promise."
Her words warmed the atmosphere around them considerably, and seemed to calm Frisk a little bit more. They turned their eyes up from behind their arm again to look at her, this time for a few moments rather than in the blink of an eye. Undyne offered them a small smile, trying to look as harmless as possible; Frisk held their eye contact with her, swallowing nervously.
She held her hand out for Frisk to take. "C'mere, little punk. I won't let anything bad happen to you."
They wanted to go to her. Very badly, in fact. But they were stuck, left immobilized by the fear that Undyne would attack them or they would attack her. Either way would only result in a heartbreaking reminder to Frisk that the consequences of their sins would last forever. (Or, at least in their young, childish mind, it seemed that way.)
But Undyne was patient. She said and moved no more, simply allowing Frisk the time to decide on what course of action they would take. It was almost like they were engaged in a fight, and Frisk had the options to kill or spare. Observing the almost submissive countenance with which Undyne was acting now, Frisk wouldn't be surprised if she simply let them attack her (which they were determined not to do).
Deciding to let instinct take over, Frisk released their iron grip on the wooden chair, and turned their body to face Undyne. They reached a small hand out toward hers, their heart thudding in their chest and ears with breath catching in their throat. Closing their eyes in some form of bracing themselves for an attack, they crossed the final distance with their hand, and forced it into Undyne's.
Nothing happened.
Frisk took a deep breath after a few silent moments, slowly opening their eyes and looking at Undyne. She simply blinked, her smile widening a bit. "See? It's okay now."
The words filled Frisk with the determination needed to propel their body toward Undyne's, as they practically jumped into her lap and wrapped their arms around her neck. They pressed their eyes and forehead against her shoulder, releasing the shaky breath they had been holding; this was real, Undyne was real, and she didn't want to kill them.
And Frisk didn't want to kill her, either.
"Woah! Wasn't expecting that," Undyne said, carefully wrapping her arms around Frisk's small frame. "I got ya covered, kid. All the scary stuff back in the Underground is over now. This is the present, okay?"
Frisk nodded against Undyne's shoulder. She was right; regardless of what had happened before, regardless of the different occurrences across timelines, Undyne was one of their best friends right now, in the current moment, and things would stay that way so long as Frisk wanted them to.
"I know we got off on a pretty bad foot, with me trying to, uh….Well, you know," Undyne stated carefully, unsure of how sensitive Frisk might be to a verbal reminder of what had happened between them, "but that was then, and this is now! It was my fault for thinking that all humans were bad and acting upon that thought. Yet, you wanted to befriend me, regardless. And, for that, I will always be grateful!"
Cue a good-natured noogie, which left Frisk giggling and unsuccessfully trying to stop Undyne with their hands. Eventually Undyne gave in, allowing Frisk to hold her hand with their own. Frisk fiddled with Undyne's larger hand, carefully tracing over the webbing between Undyne's fingers.
They murmured a soft thank you for Undyne's friendship, accompanied by a reminder that they loved Undyne very, very much. Which was then followed by Frisk's attempt at an Undyne-sized grin, baring the teeth in what looked more like a forced grimace than a big smile, but it warmed Undyne's heart nonetheless.
She practically beamed with pride, affection, and courage all at once. "The feeling's mutual, punk. I love ya, too."
This time, Frisk truly, without a doubt, believed it.
A/N:
* (I really, really, really love Undyne - she's such a great character, and her dialogue always cracks me up! Her battle themes for both the pacifist and no mercy routes are super cool, too. I spent a good portion of a night last week trying to beat her on my no mercy run; the true heroine theme's greatness is what saved me from descending into despair over repeating her battle so many times!)